Button Quail must be kept in a brooder for
the first 5-6 weeks of their lives.

The following picture is of my homemade brooder.

homemade brooder/cage

As you can see by the next picture,
babies make the best thermometer, you can tell if the light needs to be raised or lowered by where they lay, if they stay
right under the light and stand you can be sure they are not warm enough. If they stay out around the edge, you may
need to raise the light slightly.

This is a basic kit to help start you on your way to hatching chicks.
Button Quail are fun and easy to raise. They grow quickly and can start laying eggs as soon as 7 weeks.

The following pictures will give you close-ups of some items you will
need to start hatching your very own eggs.

The top picture is of medicated chick
starter and the next one is of gamebird stater. They look almost identical, but are very different.

gamebird starter

To feed newly hatched button
quail you must grind feed to powder in a food processor or a coffee mill. Make sure they always have food available,
they don't understand the dish concept to well so it is good to use shallow lid for feeding and shallow dishes for water.

water dishes

I use recycled dog food dishes,
and ole beagle is happy about that. Since that food is so yummy. I wash them add marbles and water. Marbles
are to keep chicks from drowning, they can drink between the marbles and if they climb on the dish they won't be down in the
water. Baby buttons are very small, about one inch when hatched.

I use 1 small dish per 3 babies,
as the warmth of the brooder evaporates the water quickly, and birds can dehydrate quickly. Alway keep plenty of fresh
cool water for birds. Birds usually don't like warm water.

Marbles are also colorful and
will draw the babies to them. Newly hatched buttons begin to eat and drink within hours of hatching. I take mine
out of incubator immediatly, they are strong and really toss the other eggs around, brooder is safer for them. You must
also make a small coral around light because they will go to a cold corner and could die. So it is important to make
them stay under the light till they are dry and walking. I use canned veggies, to make a wall on each side in brooder,
works great. I also have a small box brooder set up incase chicks hatch far apart in time. Fluffy chicks will
pick on wet chicks. I call it my chick I.C.U. Then as soon as they are dry I put them in with the rest and they
are none the wiser. Just one big happy family :)

non-slip brooder liner

Flat lids from sour cream or cottage
cheese, even yogurt work great for new chicks food dishes. At about 3 weeks start adding grit , sprinkle on food as
if salting.

feed dish

It is important to have a non-slip
flooring for baby chicks, this will help to keep babies from getting splaid legs and can even help straighten out curled toes.